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4 The Canadian Statesman, Bowmanville, August 8.1984 Editorial Comment Mail Service is Better Ever wonder what happened to Canada Post since it became a Crown corporation in 1981? Well, according to the organization's organization's annual report for 1982-83, it's doing quite nicely, thank you. One of the highlights from the latest batch of Canada Post facts and figures is a "ten per cent increase increase in the "on time" delivery. This refers to mail which arrives between one and two days of the date of mailing. According to Canada Post, first class letters delivered during the last three months of 1983 arrived on time 89 per cent of the time. By comparison, comparison, the "on time" delivery rate for 1981 was 79 per cent. Here in the York Division, our postal service was slightly above par. For January and February of 1984, the average first class mail was on time 91 per cent of the time. All of which seems to indicate that the decision to turn the post office into a government corporation corporation is working out as hoped. The annual summary of postal operations operations also notes interesting new developments in the services offered offered by the new corporation. Using recent technology, a number number of new ways to send messages have been developed. For example, Intelpost sends copies of letters via satellite or microwave between 25 Canadian cities. You can send an intelpost message message to London, England, from Canada Canada in just 47 seconds. "Telepost lets customers trans mit messages across Canada electronically electronically for delivery by first class mail through regular special delivery delivery systems." In its comments on other issues which have developed since the formation formation of the corporation, Canada Post reports that the number of postal stations, post offices and sub-post offices has remained unchanged unchanged in York Division since October October 16. Hours of operation for the 120 postal stations and 360 sub post offices offices have remained basically unchanged. unchanged. Opening and closing hours have been altered in some cases to meet customer demand and some stations have been closed on Saturdays. However, each of York division's five areas has postal stations, post offices and sub-post offices which provide Saturday wicket service. All in all, the annual report of Canada Post tells a story of increased increased efficiency, innovation, and continued customer service at local branches. Of course, all of these statistics are arranged by the corporation itself. itself. Naturally, it will be putting itself itself in the best possible light. But conventional wisdom does seem to be telling us that there are some improvements underway. Come to think of it, when was the last time you heard a joke about the slow postal service? It's been a whilè, right? That, in itself, should confirm the successes mentioned in the Canada Post annual report. Olympics are Amazing The Los Angeles Olympics will be useful if they do nothing more than prove to Canadians the great variety variety of sports available for both the spectator and the participant. Canada, you might say, has been in a "rut" where sports are concerned. concerned. For most of us, sports means hockey hockey in the winter, football in the summer and fall and baseball in the spring and summer. One good thing about the Olympics is the fact that they open our eyes to the entire sporting world. And what's really shocking is the fact that many of the activities which are unheralded in Canada are sports in which Canadians have proved themselves to be of world calibre. Most of us have a vague idea that Canada's potential in swimming has been gradually improving. But who would have ever believed that we'd be carrying home medals in the sports of cycling, rowing, or pistol pistol shooting. Perhaps these sports, to name just a few, will get more of the publicity they deserve. Canadians Canadians athletes have proven that they can compete with confidence in the entire range of summer sports represented at the Olympics. Maybe it's time Canadian sports fans learn to appreciate the skills involved in this long list of sporting events. The Olympics prove that there are sports which should be suitable for almost every individual preference. preference. There are some which attract athletes of a certain age group. On other events, age doesn't seem to be a factor. Some require teamwork; teamwork; others, take only the single dogged determination of the individual. individual. Some require elaborate equipment such as the shooting, cycling, or boating events. Others need only a pair of shorts and track shoes plus the drive to win. There are Olympic competitions that require require brute strength along with agility, technique, speed, and various various other characteristics. In fact, it seems that just about any individual you might imagine would be able to match his or her unique talents and personality to a particular sport. It's a point that parents might consider before they encourage their child to enter one of the more traditional fields of athletic athletic endeavor. By shopping around a little, it may be possible to match the young sportsman or woman with exactly the activity to which he is most suited. Who knows, the combination combination of the right youngster in the right sport could lead to future champions who will' replace the Olympians of 1984? , The 1984 Olympics J;hrough theiir' extensive media ctixrerage, have/, taught Canadians that the country! has numerous young athletes who are the best in what is truly a wide world of sports. We can all be proud of that achievement. Incredible Athlete Lives Right Here As this is being written, arrangements arrangements are being made to honor the town's own Olympian, Silvia Rueg- ger. Silvia, you recall, is the Newton- ville resident who placed ninth in the women's marathon held for the first time ever at the Los Angles Olympics. Civic leaders are planning some kind of reception or motorcade through the town to welcome the young runner back from the games. Details will, no doubt, be announced announced elsewhere in this edition as plans are finalized. While Silvia did not bring home a medal, her time was the best by any Canadian in the race. It's a truly remarkable showing for one who only won her first marathon in Ottawa Ottawa a few weeks ago.; The welcome welcome planned for Silvia is a fitting tribute to one who brought Canada and our own community some measure of fame in an Olympic event which is likely the most demanding demanding of all. Congratulations Silvia. ®1|t (Eanahfan Statesman 623-3303 (*£na Durham County's Great Family Journal Established 130 years ago In 1854. Also Incorporating The Bowmanville News The Newcastle Independent The Orono News Second class mall registration number 1561 Produced every Wednesday by THE JAMES PUBLISHING COMPANY LIMITED 62-66 King St, W„ Bowmanville, Ontario L1C 3K9 » O L* JOHN M. JAMES Editor -- Publisher GEO. P. MORRIS Business Mgr. BRIAN PURDY Advertising Mgr. RICHARD A. JAMES Assistant Publisher DONALD BISHOP Plant Mgr. All layouts and composition ol advertisements produced by the employees ol The Canadian Statesman, The Newcastle Independent and The James Publishing Company Limited are protected by copyright and must not be reproduced without written permission ol the publishers, $15.00 a year - 6 months $8.00 foreign - $45.00 a year strictly In advance Although every precaution will be taken to avoid error, The Canadian Statesman accepts advertising in its columns on the understanding trial it will not be liable lor any error in the advertisement published hereunder unless a proof ol such advertisement is renuested in writing by the advertiser and relumed to The Canadian Statesman business office duly signed by the advertiser and with such error or corrections plainly noted in writing thereon, and in that case if any error so noted is not corrected by The Canadian Statesman its liability shall not exceed such a portion ol the entire cost ol such 'idverlistment as the space occupied tiy the noted error bears to the whole space occupied by such advertisement SUGAR and SPICE Education Stalemate In 30 plus years as an editor, a parent, and a teacher, I have been inundated (though not quite drowned) by several waves of selL styled "reform" of our educational system, especially that of Ontario. Each wave has washed away some of the basic values in opr system and left behind a heap /of detritus from which teachers a^d students eventually emerge, gasping for a breath of glean air. Most of the "massive" reforms in our system are borrowed from the U.S., after 30 or 40 years of testing there have proven them dubious, if not worthless. We have borrowed from the pragmatist, John Dewey, an American, who had some good ideas, but tried to put them into mass production, an endearing but not necessarily noble trait of our cousins below the border. We have tried the ridiculous, "See, Jane. See Spot run. Spot, see Jane vomit," sort of thing which completely ignores the child's demand for heroes and witches and shining maidens, and things that go bump in the night. We have tried "teaching the whole child," a process in which the teacher becomes father/mother, uncle/aunt, grandfather/grandma, psychiatrist, buddy, confidant, and football to kick around, while the kid does what he/she dam-well-pleases. And we wonder about teacher "burn-out." E We have tried a system in which the children choose from a sort of Pandora's box what subjects they would like to take, and giving them a credit for each subject to which they ; are "exposed," whether or not they have learned anything in it. That was a bit of a disaster. Kids, like adults, chose the things that were "fun," that were "easy," that didn't have exams, that allowed them to "express their individuality." New courses were introduced with the rapidity of rabbits breeding. A kid who was confident that he would be a great brain surgeon took everything from basket-weaving to bird-watcing because they were fun. And suddenly, at about the age of 17, he discovered that it was necessary to know some science, mathematics, Latin, history and English, to become a brain surgeon (or a novelist, or a playwright, or an engineer, etc.). There are very few jobs open in basket-weaving and bird-watching or World Religions or another couple of dozen I could name, but won't, for fear of being beaten to death by a tizzy of teachers the day this column appears. The universities, those sacrosanct institutions, where the truth shall make you free, went along with the Great Deception. They lowered their standards, in a desperate scramble for live bodies. They competed for students with all the grace of merchants in an Armenian bazaar. Another swing of the pendulum. Parents discovered that their kids know something about a lot of things, but not much about anything. They got mad. , . , The universities, a little red in the face . suddenly and virtuously I announced that many high school graduates were illiterate, which was ■ a lot of crap. They were the people who decided that a second language was not necessary. They were the people who accepted students with a mark of 50 in English, which means the kid actually failed, but the teacher gave him a credit. Nobody, in the new system, really failed. If they mastered just less than half the work, got a 48 per cent, they were raised to 50. If they flunked every subject they took, they were transferred to another "level," where they could succeed, and even excel. The latest of those politically- inspired, slovenly researched reforms in Ontario is called SERF, and it sound just like, and is just like NERD. Reading its contents carefully, on comes to the conclusion that if Serp is accepted, the result will be a great leveller. Out of one side of its mouth it suggests that education be compressed, by abandoning of Grade 13, and out of the other side, that education be expanded by adding a lot of new things to the curriculum. How can you compress something and expand it at the same time? Only a commission of education could even suggest such a thing. There will be lots of money for "Special Education" in the new plan. There will be less money for excellence. Special Education is educational jargon for teaching stupid kids. Bright kids are looked down upon as an "elite" group, and they should be put in their place. The universities would enjoy seeing Grade 13 disappear. That would mean they'd have a warm body for four years, at a cost of about $4,000 a year, instead of three. I am not an old fogey. I am not a reactionary. I believe in change. Anything that does not change becomes static, or dies. Ideas that refuse .the change become dessicated. I am not against spending lots of money to teach stupid kids, or emotionally disturbed kids. But I am squarely against any move toward squelching the brightest and best of our youth, and sending off to university people who are in that extremely vulnerable stage of half adolescent, half-adult, and turfing them into classes of 200 or 300, where they are no more that a cypher on the books of a so-called hall of learning. And I have the proof right beside me, in the form of several brilliant essays by Grade 13 students, better than anything I ever write, who have had a chance to come to terms with themselves and with life, in a small class, with a teacher who knows, likes, and encourages them, rather than a remote figure at a podium. to the Editor August 7,1984 Summer Blood Clinic a Success A very successful blood donor clinic was held on Aug. 1st at the Bowmanville Lions Centre with a total of 417 donors registered. Twenty- five new donors attended the clinic for the first time to give the gift of life. The many volunteers have done a remarkable job to run this clinic smoothly and they all may look hack at a job well done. We'd like to thank the Bowmanville Bowmanville Lions for their facilities facilities as a hall this size is needed very much to operate this large a clinic. The following merchants donated supplies for the clinic so we are able to operate at a minimum of costs. - Checkers Variety, I, (LA,, I.D.A., Canadian Tire, A & P, United Drug Mart, Bi-Way, and Shoppers Drug Mart. The Beta Sigma Phi ladies looked after the kitchen and tearoom and served refreshments. refreshments. We'd also like to thank the nurses who looked after the rcstbeds to make sure the donors got their rest, required after they made a donation. Our registrars have done a tremendous job to keep people from wailing too long and a heartfelt thank you to all the people who made numerous telephone calls to remind all previous donors. The Canadian Statesman is always present to lake pictures pictures of our award winners and to promote our clinic which keeps the community informed at all times. Advertising was done by the Bowmanville and Pine Ridge Kinsmen and we'd like to thank these service clubs for their help to promote our clinic through the local newspapers. newspapers. Also a thank jnu to all the people who are so kind to display our posters. The Knights of Columbus helped with loading and unloading unloading of equipment, a job they have been doing on a regular basis. Many thanks to all these volunteers we depend on to operate our blood donor clinic. We are very pleased to see a turnout this high as blood is needed more in summertime. Long weekends are typically times of tragic traffic accidents accidents and other calamities that require blood. Treatment of leukemia patients and others needing blood transfusions transfusions for medical problems doesn't stop during the summer. We invite every body to our open house at the next clinic and our staff will he very pleased to explain the process of our blood donor program. This community is great, because we have so many volunteers to help out in difficult difficult times. We appreciate all this and hope for your support at the next clinic. A.Tielcmans Publicity Chairman Many August Events at Library A show by children's singer Eric Nagler, a teddy bear picnic, and an evening of Beatles' films highlight the Bowmanvllc Library's schedule for August. Erie Nagler has been on radio and TV and has recorded recorded albums, lie'll he at the library on August 15, and the children in the audience audience can sing along or join in a jug band, The show is at 2:00 p.m, On Wed. August 22, chil dren and their teddy bears can go to a teddy bear picnic of songs, stories and snacks. The children should bring their own snacks, and the library will provide drinks for thorn. This picnic is planned for children ol ages three to six (no age limit on the hears, however) and those who want to take part should be pre-regis- leved, The picnic is front 2:00 to 2:45 pm. 'flic populnr"Nutritlon in the Parks" show will come to the library on August 23 at 10:00 a.in. The program includes songs, games and skits, and is a fun way to learn about good eating habits. Nutrition in the Park is a Summer Canada project with the Durham Region Health Service, This is the third summer the program has been taken around parks in the region, and children arc always enthusiastic enthusiastic about it. Not all of the specia shows are for children "Beatlomania," the li brary's film show for Angus 23, is for Beatles fans of an; age. The show, from 7:00 ti 9:00 p.m. will include five o tlie Beatles' most populn short films. The regular duy-aeti vit ici like Film Fun (Tues. 3:001< 4:00 p.m.) and Friday morn ing crafts (every Friday 10:30 to 11:30) continue through the month.